


The Healer's Burden

by psychophoenix



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mythology, Angst, Chinese Mythology & Folklore, Emotional Hurt, Flash Fic, Flash Fiction, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Somewhat inspired by real life events..., Yixing's Birthday Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:49:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26858494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psychophoenix/pseuds/psychophoenix
Summary: Yixing should have seen it coming.
Relationships: Kim Junmyeon | Suho/Zhang Yi Xing | Lay, Wu Yi Fan | Kris/Zhang Yi Xing | Lay
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22
Collections: Challenge #8 — Tales of the Past





	The Healer's Burden

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize in advance for any old wounds this story may reopen. It's roughly congruent with some real-life events that EXO went through. When I was writing this I wanted to do something related to Chinese mythology and folklore but it just went its own course and... yeah. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy my take on this round's theme.

Honestly, Yixing should have seen it coming. 

He had known Yifan since they were children, students in the academy together. When Yifan started manifesting the blessing of Longwang the Dragon King, Yixing was hardly surprised. Yifan had always been somewhat of a leader, an individual with such a strong presence that it was hard not to see him as anything other than a fierce dragon warrior.

Meanwhile, Yixing came from a long line of healers associated with Zhang Guolao. While Yifan was all raw power, Yixing was unassuming and soft-spoken, required of all the healers-in-training. 

They were training together in combat one late afternoon because " _E_ _ven healers should know how to fend for themselves,"_ Yifan reasoned, when Yifan asks Yixing something that surprises him. 

"Is it true that the followers of Guolao possess immortality?"

Yixing stops sparring and instead dodges the next attack of Yifan. He rolls his eyes. "My grandfather may look old, but he's not _that old_." 

Yifan laughs, stepping back to take a swig from his water bottle that rests beneath the tree they were sparring by. 

Yixing wipes at his forehead with a towel. "Yeah, we're healers, and we're pretty good at keeping people alive, but I don't think our patron has blessed us that much." 

* * *

Three years after that conversation, they are sent to meet Junmyeon and the others. It wasn't easy getting to know 10 new people, what with all of them coming from different backgrounds and all, but having Yifan by his side made Yixing more at ease in his new role as the team's healer. The presence of Luhan and Tao, both from their country as well, was equally reassuring.

Junmyeon is, in many ways, Yifan's foil. He is just as much a leader as Yifan, but he was the patient, doting kind. Still, this contrast allowed them to balance leadership dynamics within the group, even when they occasionally split up into two teams during missions. Junmyeon led one team, Yifan, the other. 

Yixing was always at Yifan's side, but he has grown fond of the other team members as well. He had a soft spot for Junmyeon, who knocked at his bedroom door during late nights, the worry on his face not for himself but for one of their members who was sick or in pain. 

When Junmyeon's own weakness to protect his members was exploited during one of their missions, gravely injuring him, Yixing was there by his bedside nursing him back to health. 

"So, your healing..." Junmyeon starts. 

Yixing looks at him expectantly. 

"Can you like, bring people back from the dead?" 

Yixing laughs, as Junmyeon's question was so similar to Yifan's from three years ago. Similar, but not quite the same. Yifan's was centered on the self, asking Yixing if his abilities extended for his own sake. Junmyeon's, in his typical caring fashion, was all about others. "No, I don't think I can. So none of you should die on me."

Junmyeon's smile sombers. 

"Because I can't bring you back if you do." Yixing whispers. 

* * *

Yixing should have seen it coming. Throughout their missions, Yifan was slowly growing more agitated, more impulsive, and, most of all, more distant from Yixing and the rest of the team. But Yixing did not take much consideration of it because Yifan had always been strong-willed and independent. 

But he should have. 

Because when Yifan left, the raw pain he left the team in was not one that Yixing could heal. Junmyeon tried so hard to keep things together for the sake of the other members, who were in shock when he announced that Yifan had left. And then, barely a year later, when Luhan and Tao followed in their leader's footsteps, leaving the team in the dust, Junmyeon's resolve crumbled. 

Guolao’s gifts could not bring people back from the dead, and neither could Yixing bring back what the team lost when the three members left without so much as a backward glance. 

Guolao’s gifts do not give Yixing immortality, but as he helped Junmyeon pick up the broken pieces of what was left of their team, it felt like an eternity of pain. 

But Yixing should have seen it coming. He had known Yifan since they were children, students in the academy together. He should have known that one day, the lifestyle they had been subjected to would be too confining for the dragon warrior, blessed by Longwang himself.

"I'm sorry," he whispers to Junmyeon, who is sobbing in his bed in the dark. 

"Don't be, it's not your fault," Junmyeon whispers back. Even in pain, he was thinking about Yixing and the others. 

Yixing does not reply, but deep inside his heart, he blames himself. 

Because he should have known.

Yifan's abilities and the blessing of the Dragon King were of remarkable proportions. It gave him the power to lead, to fight.

But it also gave him the power to hurt. 

And Yixing should have prepared himself to heal emotional wounds, too.

**Author's Note:**

> The elements of Chinese mythology and folklore that I included in this fic were from research that I did on the matter. I tried my best to write them as respectfully as I can considering I'm not from the culture but I really wanted to write something with their mythological elements in it.


End file.
